Woke-tionary
I need an escape from everything Washington, and how amazing to find that a little trip to "Woke"-ington does the job. Victor David Hanson published a very helpful "A Guide to Wokespeak" in NRO -- his last column for them. An excerpt:
Words often change their meanings as the political context demands. And what was yesterday's orthodoxy is today's heterodoxy and tomorrow's heresy. So here is some of the vocabulary of the woke lexicon."Anti-racism." Espousing this generic compounded -ism is far preferable to accusing particular people of being "racists" -- and then being expected to produce evidence of their concrete actions and words to prove such indictments.
Instead, one can pose as fighting for "anti-racism" and thereby imply that all those whom one opposes, disagrees with, or finds distasteful, de facto, must be for "racism."
"Anti-racism" is a useful salvo for students, teachers, administrators, public employees, political appointees, and media personnel to use peremptorily: declare from the start that you are working for "anti-racism" and then anyone who disagrees with you therefore must be racist, or, antithetically, "pro-racism."
..."Cultural appropriation." This adjective-noun phrase must include contextualization to be an effective tool in the anti-racism effort.
It does not mean, as the ignorant may infer from its dictionary entries, merely "the adoption of an element or elements of one culture or identity by members of another culture or identity."
Asian Americans do not appropriate "white" or "European" culture by ballet dancing or playing the violin; "whites" or "Europeans" surely do appropriate Asian culture by using non-Asian actors in Japanese kabuki dance-drama.
For non-African Americans, dreadlocks or playing jazz are cultural appropriations; dying darker hair blond is not. A black opera soprano is hardly a cultural appropriationist. Wearing a poncho, if one is a non-Mexican-American citizen, is cultural theft; a Mexican-American citizen wearing a tuxedo is not.
Only a trained cultural appropriationist can determine such felonies through a variety of benchmarks. Usually the crime is defined as appropriation by a victimizing majority from a victimized minority. Acceptable appropriation is a victimized minority appropriating from a victimizing majority. A secondary exegesis would add that only the theft of the valuable culture of the minority is a felony, while the occasional use of the dross of the majority is not.
..."Unearned white privilege"-- as opposed to mere "white privilege." The intensifier "unearned" is usually an added-on confessional by middle-aged white people in administrative or elite professional and coveted billets who wish to express their utmost penance for their high salaries, titles, and influence.
"Unearned," however, is not to be confused with "undeserved." Instead, it suggests certain white elites who wish to publicly confess their guilt for doing so well but without having to resign and to give back what they admittedly claim they did not earn.
Thus a college president is allowed to confess to having enjoyed "unearned" white privilege that nonetheless does not mean his present position is "undeserved."
In sum, despite the fact that he was unfairly catapulted into the presidency, the college president's manifest genius displayed after obtaining the job means he is now woke and clearly deserves to remain in the post. In other words, what explicit "unearned" was then, implicit "deserved" is now.
The woke would have us believe that racism is something only white people can be guilty of. Because, supposedly, you can only be a racist if your race holds the power in the U.S. And, to stretch the limits of credibility even further, they aver that blacks have never been in power.
To counter this argument, I point out that there is no way to exclude anyone from being guilty of racism. An -ist, in this context, is a believer in the aforementioned philosophy. It never depends upon the society he lives in.
Saying that blacks cannot be racist is akin to saying that a believer in communism in the United States can't be a communist, because communists have never been in power.
If racism refers to structures of power and privilege, then to be a racist, all you need to do is support ideas of power and privilege based on race. And the society you live in is completely irrelevant.
The media's complicity in dismissing the looting, burning and lawlessness of Black Lives Matter is racism. There are numerous institutions that favor non-whites. Some, such as affirmative action, are codified into law. That is racist, like it or not.
I've used this argument before when discussing racism. And while I consider it eminently reasonable, even irrefutable, it is generally met with Kamala-esque smirking.
Patrick at January 7, 2021 2:24 AM
Get ready to live in Wokeistan for the next several years.
It is going to get a whole lot worse before it gets any better.
Trivial shit like this will be focused on to cover up for large scale government graft and malfeasance, which, of course will be ignored by all right thinking individuals.
Isab at January 7, 2021 7:10 AM
Orwell wrote something fairly similar in Politics and the English Language.
When Amy said, "his last column for them," I though she meant he was leaving them. I've always enjoyed reading him, especially his histories and was bummed about that. Luckily, he wrote this on the eternal Homer dated 7-Jan, so he might be sticking around for awhile.
"The Odyssey does not just present the so-called white patriarchy; it simultaneously questions it." ~ Victor Davis Hanson
Conan the Grammarian at January 7, 2021 7:30 AM
Sadly, the company that I work for has adopted this new racial garbage. we are now required to take online courses that teach us about white privilege, how to be an anti-racist, etc.
It is all a part of "diversity training." Ironically, as a white male I am NOT considered a part of diversity. So, they are excluding me and they just don't see the irony of doing exactly what they are telling employees not to do - treat others as outcasts!
I'd quit my job; but, at my age I have just a few more years until I can retire - who would hire me now?
charles at January 7, 2021 10:59 AM
Not only do the woke deny that blacks can be racist, they deny that racism exists anywhere else in the world. It is a myopic world view. In Africa, several countries expelled all Indians and took farmland from whites (Rhodesia). It turned out that it was not the farmland that produced crops but the white farmers. In Japan they have Korean workers--they are despised and cannot get citizenship. In the middle east (Iran Iraq) they are busy getting rid of all christians, jews, baha'is, zoroastrians and even dervishes. In Africa the bushmen are looked down on. In South America they have a whole vocabulary for how white/black/indian you are, with social rank accordingly.
It is a sad fact of the human condition. It is also true that when you give special treatment (as opposed to equal treatment) to a group you cause resentment and conflict.
cc at January 7, 2021 11:14 AM
Given the current dynamic, it is only a matter of time before Whites coalesce into a tribal group with its own set of resentments and grievances. It appears this is going to happen sooner rather than later. When it does happen, and the proverbial "gloves" come off, things will get VERY interesting for the other "tribes."
Jay R at January 7, 2021 4:06 PM
The mob has always sought to kill the exceptional, for the heinous crime of demonstrating to the mob that their popular opinions and customs are deficient. Even the blinding success of many of their number is not enough to quiet demands that they are entitled to the output of others.
You must not be permitted to show this in social media, nor may you be permitted to suggest that lowering standards is the road to abject failure.
It is barely acceptable to suggest that treating people as bound by classification applied by others is not accurate - it's a power play, nothing more.
Radwaste at January 8, 2021 4:22 AM
Oh Raddy, we all weep at the brutal constraint of your freedom of expression. It just ain't right!
By the way, what are you driving nowadays?
crid at January 8, 2021 1:34 PM
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